cold wallet

An offline wallet provided for storing bitcoins. With cold storage, the digital wallet is stored on a platform that is not connected to the internet, thereby, protecting the wallet from unauthorized access, cyber hacks, and other online vulnerabilities.

Historical perspective: In early 2019, a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange could not repay customers some $190 million because its CEO died suddenly—and nobody knew the password to his encrypted laptop, according to NPR.org. QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten, 30, died in December of complications from Crohn’s disease while traveling in India. His widow, in court filings seeking debt protection, said she can’t access the company’s “cold wallets” which hold the exchange’s virtual currency, most of it in Bitcoin. A security expert at QuadrigaCX couldn’t manage it, either. Now the firm’s 115,000 clients are “wondering when—and if—they’ll see their money.” Cotten’s widow said she’s faced death threats and skepticism about whether Cotten is actually dead.